Mailorder Mom comes by to pick up her medication. It's called Vimpat. It's dang expensive. But her co-pay is only $30. That's not unreasonable for a branded medication.
Even so, I know this lady. So when I filled it a few days previously, I didn't open the bottles. We can't return medication to the supplier once the bottle has been opened. I don't make the rules. I live by them.
Tim the Tech is with me today and he tells MM it will be $30. "Do you want the medication?" he asked, seeing that the prescription hadn't been put in an amber bottle for the patient.
"It's cheaper for me to get this here," she says. I called them.
"Are you sure?" Tim the Tech asks, because most people pay LESS when they get their medication by mail order.
"No, I checked. I want it."
I hear the entire conversation.
I step up to the counter. "Are you sure? Once I open these bottles we can't return them."
"I want it."
Tim hands me the unopened bottles, which I open and put into a labeled amber container.
Mailorder Mom pays and leaves.
Five minutes later she rolls her grocery cart back up to the window.
"Can I get a refund?" she asks.
I'm startled.
"Why?" is all I can spit out.
"It is cheaper by mail order. I was wrong. I just called them."
I'm floored. What a complete goofball.
I give her the refund, then I tell her to just keep the medication. It can't be returned. Store policy is that we give refunds when asked. Federal law is that once a medication leaves the pharmacy, it can't be returned. The only way to come out even on this deal is to keep the claim with her insurance and lose the co-pay. The alternative is destroying $1,750 worth of medication, all because Goofball got it mixed up.
5 comments:
Don't ever open them! Shelf life once opened is a mere 7 weeks.
Mail order mom knows the system and has figured out how to save $30 dollars and get free medication. Put a note on her file, and next time confiscate the drugs and throw away the $1750. Tell her it's the new Goofmart policy. You'll never see her again.
It is not against the law to take back meds. It's just against the law to redispense.
If "anonymous" is a patient, this comment goes to show how closely people read the drug information provided to them. The seven-week "shelf life" is for Vimpat oral solution. Even though Crazy RxMan didn't specifically say so, I strongly suspect he was dispensing Vimpat oral TABLETS.
No way would I have refunded her. She knew exactly what she was doing and played you.
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